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American Anti-Tank Missile Filmed In Syria

American Anti-Tank Missile Filmed In Syria
The following video posted on an activist channel for Talbiseh, Homs shows a very unusual projectile previously unseen in the conflict

The projectile belongs to an American M47 Dragon, a wire-guided anti-tank missile in service with the US military until 2001. A diagram of the projectile is shown

The video provides a close up of the markings on the projectile which provides additional information

“Octol” refers to the type of explosive used, more details of which are here. M225 is the type of warhead, and HE refers to high explosive. What’s interesting is there’s also a P/N reference, which means that with the right reference material it would be possible to track it down to it’s original source. With a history of use in Iraq, Israel, and Jordan, as well as the US, it leaves the question of the source wide open, but hopefully the P/N reference will make tracking the origin much more straight-forward.

More Background On Croatian Weapons In Syria
Some more information for those of you interested in the recent New York Times piece of Croatian weapons being sent to the Syrian opposition by Saudi Arabia.

Moses and others made a number of earlier reports on the subject, before it was clear who was providing the weapons, with first post on the subject back in January 16th followed by two more updates as I discovered more information
Are Yugoslavian Anti-Tank Weapons Being Smuggled Into Syria?
Evidence Of Multiple Foreign Weapon Systems Smuggled To The Syrian Opposition In Daraa
Foreign Smuggled Weapons Spread Northwards Into Syria

From February James Miller and Scott Lucas of EA Worldview also produced a number of posts on the subject
Someone is Arming the Insurgents…and It’s Working
The Insurgent Offensive Against Damascus and the Foreign Weapons
A New Insurgent Alliance — With New Weapons — Is Changing the War
Why Europe’s “Embargo” on Arms to Insurgents is Not an Embargo — Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
Syria — How and Why the US is Arming the Insurgents

Michael Weiss examined the appearance of these weapons on February 20th with “Who just started arming Syria rebels?”.

As part of research into the weapons in questions I’ve put together a number of Youtube playlists with all the videos I’ve come across showing these weapons in the hands of the opposition:
RBG-6 Grenade Launcher
M79 Osa Rocket Launcher
RPG-22 Rocket Launcher
M60 Recoilless Gun

It appears Croatian weapons aren’t the only recently sighted foreign weapons in Syria, with Chinese MANPADS (surface to air missiles), and French rockets appearing on the field in recent weeks.